Ph.D. in Biostatistics

Motivated by the unique ethical challenges posed by working with human subjects and by the complexity of human, biological and public health systems, biostatistical research involves the development of new and innovative statistical methods for analyzing biomedical and public health data. Biostatisticians can design efficient public health surveys, clinical trials, and biomedical experiments that minimize the number of subjects exposed to inferior treatments, and maximize the amount of information obtained from the study subjects while securing the privacy of sensitive human-subjects data.

Biostatisticians seek to develop new and innovative statistical methods for efficient analysis of the resulting data, yielding scientifically-defensible conclusions regarding the impact of risk factors and medical therapies on disease, quality life and health of human populations.

Advance the discipline of Biostatistics through the development of new and innovative biostatistical methods with applications in Public Health and Biomedicine.

Improve the quality of public health and biomedical investigations through the use of sound study design and the appropriate application of state-of-the-art biostatistical methods.

Create the next generation of epidemiologists who can respond to the challenges in public health in the future, educate future students in the field, and provide service to the community.

Serve the larger communities in which we live and work, by using our special skills and knowledge.

More Information

Degree Competencies

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biostatistics will be awarded in recognition of in-depth knowledge and comprehensive understanding of Biostatistics together with a demonstrated ability to perform independent research contributing new and innovative biostatistical methods.

Students receiving a Ph.D. in Biostatistics should meet the following competencies:

Demonstrate a command of core biostatistical techniques, including their computation, theoretical underpinnings, and their application in public health and biomedicine.

Work independently as a collaborator with public health and biomedical researchers to design clinical trials, case-control studies, public health surveys, and other experimental and observational studies.

Create, conduct and publish original research on the theory and application of biostatistics aimed at developing new and innovative methods for analysis of public health and biomedical data.

Communicate effectively with investigators in public health and biomedical research.

Teach biostatistics to undergraduate students in public health, biomedicine, and related fields.

Demonstrate and practice ethical research as it pertains to data management, analysis, and interpretation.

Critique the statistical literature, and the statistical content of the public health and biomedical literature.

Students will achieve those competencies through course work, collaboration with researchers in biomedicine and public health, and completion of a dissertation under the mentorship of Biostatistics faculty.

Curriculum

The proposed program requires 71 credits to complete the Ph.D. degree in Biostatistics, including 33 credit hours in required core courses in Biostatistics and Statistics, 8 credit in required courses in Epidemiology and Public Health, 12 credits of approved electives, and 18 credits of dissertation research. Core courses are aimed at competencies 1-6.

At least one of the following (3 hrs):
EHSC 7010 Fundamentals of Environmental Health Science
HPAM 7010 Introduction to Health Policy and Management
HPRB 7010 Social and Behavioral Foundations in Public Health

Electives in Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Statistics

Students may choose electives from among all 8000 level courses in Statistics and Biostatistics. Students with interests in Bioinformatics or Epidemiology may select from 8000 level courses in those two programs. The following is a sample of suggested elective courses:

Applicants to any of the MS or PhD programs offered by the department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics need to submit their application material through UGA’s Graduate School. Detailed information regarding the application process, and description of the materials that need to be submitted, are described in the UGA Graduate School website.

For a complete application, you need to submit a transcript of courses, GRE test scores, a CV/Resume, Letters of Recommendation and a statement of purpose. See the detailed instructions on the graduate school website.

Once the graduate school has received your complete application materials, we will be notified and log into the graduate school system to retrieve and review your application.

Admission requirements

All requirements for admission to a graduate program at UGA as specified by the graduate school need to be met. Consult the information on UGA’s graduate school website for that information. Additional, program-specific requirements also need to be met. Those requirements can be found in the departmental graduate student handbook departmental graduate student handbook.

We do not have a hard minimum requirement for admission, but in general a GPA above 3.0 and GRE scores in the upper 50% – with an emphasis on quantitative scores – are required for consideration.

Admission timeline

January 1: Deadline to have complete application submitted to be considered for available assistantships.

January 31: Deadline to have complete application submitted to be considered for admission, without assistantship.

February – April: Applications will be reviewed and applicants notified.

All other deadlines for fall admission as specified by the UGA graduate school need to be met. Our programs only admit students every fall.

Admission considerations

We are only able to admit a few students each year and the process is competitive. When we make admissions decisions, we look at both the academic strength of a candidate as well as the potential match for our department.

Decisions regarding admission usually come in 3 types: admit with funding, admit without funding, and reject. Students considered most qualified and the best match for our programs are admitted with funding. The admission notification will specify the details of the funding (amount/duration). Students admitted without funding are expected to find sources of funding outside from our department (which could be within UGA or outside) if they decide to enroll in the program.